An ex Cabinet Minister today alleged that the UK Government ordered Intelligence agencies to spy on Kofi Annan during the build-up to the Iraq war last year.

I can't decide what I want to do. I have two options:

- Go back to London and rent a very, very small shoebox of a room to live in, probably until the end of Summer.
- Stay in Portugal, where I could rent a decent apartment and have a nice life, until the end of Summer probably.

My current job allows me to travel wherever I want, as long as I'm in London approximately every month. The rest of my work I can do by phone or email. London is my home; it's where my friends are, it's where I'm hoping to base TIG-UK - although with my workload in the past few months I haven't spent much time with my friends, and I could probably see them on my monthly trip to London. My businesses are virtual, and can again be run from anywhere on the planet.

So how do I decide? Will me being out of the country for six more months jeopardise my commitment to furthering the UK youth scene? Is it worth up-rooting temporarily in search of a better standard of living?

Please, please, give me your opinions.

Scientists have apparently discovered the largest diamond in the Universe, measuring in at 10 billion trillion trillion carats. It is a white dwarf, which is a star that has burnt up all of it's fuel and died; following this, the star's core crystalised to form the largest diamond in the Universe.

You can view the BBC News article about this at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3492919.stm.

I just read an article on BBC News about the new Arabic language news station started and funded by the US Congress. I'm not sure what to think of this; it could be good (information dissemination for the Arabs on a larger scale) or bad (American propaganda could be disseminated just as easily).

An interesting fact that not very many people know is that the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (the Government minstry responsible for foreign affairs) is the main funder of the BBC World Service, and BBC World. I believe Canada, Norway & Switzerland (inter alia) each have foreign news services, perhaps or perhaps not funded by their respective Governments.

I think this tactic is very clever and very sly - and not publicised much at all.

Ants are amazing. Have you ever spent any time looking at ants, and watching what they do?

"Real ants are capable of finding shortest path from a food source to the nest without using visual cues. Also, they are capable of adapting to changes in the environment, for example finding a new shortest path once the old one is no longer feasible due to a new obstacle."

Apparently, they can also carry several times their own body weight. And, when they come across a dead ant they will carry it back to their base. Quite remarkable.